Etienne Gaudrain, Researcher

Contact details

E-mail: etienne.gaudrain@cnrs.fr

Postal address

Employment history

2014/11 — present

Researcher (CR1) — CRNL, Lyon, France .

Auditory Cognition and Psychoacoustics' team . My work concerns the perception of vocal characteristic and concurrent speech perception, in cochlear implant users.

2014/10 — present

Visiting Researcher — UMCG, KNO, Groningen, Netherlands .

Deniz Başkent's Speech Perception group . I co-supervise, with Pr. Başkent, three PhD students working on phonemic restoration and voice perception in normal-hearing and cochlear-implant listeners.

2012/09 — 2014/10

Researcher — UMCG, KNO, Groningen, Netherlands .

Deniz Başkent's Speech Perception group . I co-supervise, with Pr. Başkent, three PhD students working on phonemic restoration and voice perception in normal-hearing and cochlear-implant listeners.

2010/01 — 2012/08

Research Fellow — MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK .

Line manager: Robert. P. Carlyon. My work focused on concurrent speech perception in cochlear implants. I developed Zebra-speech, a method to mix two speech signals in a purely sequential way while preserving intelligibility, in order to investigate the sequential aspects of concurrent speech perception. In another study, using pulse trains in direct stimulation in cochlear-implants, I compared rate-pitch perception to regularity perception, and found that the two were uncorrelated. While at the CBSU I got involved in local collaborations with Matthew H. Davis, Lorina Nacci, Joni Holmes, Susan E. Gathercole and Richard E. Turner. I also received an Honorary Contract from Cambridge University Hospitals (Addenbrooke’s Hospital), in order to have full access to the Emmeline Centre for Hearing Implants.

2008/01 — 2009/12

Research Associate — Centre for the Neural Basis of Hearing, University of Cambridge, UK .

Supervisor: Roy D. Patterson. My work focused on auditory integration of speech features, and in particular glottal pulse rate (GPR) and vocal tract length (VTL). I have quantitatively described the role of GPR and VTL in the perception of speaker identity. This work initiated a reflexion on the principal dimensions of the representation of speech in the auditory system. In relation with this reflexion, I contributed to the redefinition of the notion of timbre in musical voice and musical instruments. While at the CNBH, I initiated collaborations with Katharina von Kriegstein (Max Planck Institute, Leipzig, Germany), Damien Gabriel (Geneva University Hospital, Switzerland) and Fabien Perrin (CNRS, Lyon, France).

2004/10 — 2007/09

PhD – Neurosciences Sensorielles, Comportement, Cognition (UMR 5020), CNRS – Université de Lyon, France .

Supervisors: Nicolas Grimault and Jean-Christophe Béra. Title: “Role of auditory streaming for concurrent voices segregation.” My thesis work was an effort to adapt the Auditory Scene Analysis theory from psychoacoustics to speech perception. The first step has been the design and validation of an objective method to evaluate pitch based streaming with vowels. Spectral and temporal pitch cues have then been manipulated and investigated using spectral smearing, noise-band vocoders and Straight. Most of the work has been performed in collaboration with Eric W. Healy (Department of Speech and Hearing Science, Ohio State University, USA). The thesis is available at tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00280604/fr/ (mostly in French).

Education

• Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches (HDR), Université Lyon 1, France, 2021
• Ph.D. in Acoustics, Université de Lyon / Université Lyon 1, France, 2008
• M.Sc. of Acoustics at École Centrale de Lyon / Université Lyon 1, France, 2004
• M.Sc. of Engineering at École Centrale de Lyon, France, 2004

Grants

• ERA-NET CoSySpeech, Groningen (2021, €844,000), partner, coordinator: Sarah Verhulst, University of Ghent.
• Sonova, Switzerland (2019), co-applicant with Deniz Başkent, University of Groningen, and Gonca Sennaroǧlu, Hacettepe University.
• A_LEA, AAP CNRS Interdisciplinarité, Lyon (2018, €13,000), co-applicant with Olivier Crouzet, Université de Nantes.
• PhD grant CeLyA, Lyon (2016), co-applicant with Etienne Parizet, LVA, INSA, Lyon.
• VICI Grant of the Dutch Research Council (NWO) (2017, €1,500,000), main applicant: Deniz Başkent, University of Groningen.
• 2+2 PhD grant from Advanced Bionics GmbH and Faculty of Medical Sciences, Groningen (2014, €265,000).
• Travel grant from the Association Francophone de la Communication Parlée (2009, €130).
• Travel grant from the Guarantors of Brain to attend Interspeech 2009 (£300).
• Travel grants of the Société Française d’Acoustique for the 151st ASA meeting (2006, €900) and for the 10th Congrès Français d’Acoustique (2010, €450).
• Doctoral grant of the Région Rhône-Alpes, 3 years (2004-2007, 3 × €30,000).

Memberships

• Acoustical Society of America since 2006, member of the P&P Technical Committee.
• Société Française d’Acoustique since 2004.

Responsibilities and Services

Ad-hoc reviewer for:

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
• Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology
• Ear and Hearing
• Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics
• Scientific Reports
• Neuropsychologia
• Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience
• Attention, Perception and Psychophysics
• Music Perception

Organisation of meetings:

• 15th Speech in Noise Workshop, Potsdam, Germany (2024).
• 14th Speech in Noise Workshop, Split, Croatia (2023).
• 13th Speech in Noise Workshop, Virtual meeting (2022).
• 12th Speech in Noise Workshop, University of Toulouse (2020).
• 11th Speech in Noise Workshop, University of Ghent (2019).
• 10th Speech in Noise Workshop, University of Glasgow (2018).
• 9th Speech in Noise Workshop, University of Oldenburg (2017).
• 8th Speech in Noise Workshop, UMCG, Groningen (2016).
• 17th International Symposium on Hearing, UMCG, Groningen (2015). ISH is one of the most prestigious conferences on hearing.
• 3rd Meeting for Young Researchers in Hearing, Musical acoustics and Audio signal, Lyon (2006). This meeting takes place every 18 months and gathers about 50 PhD French-speaking students working in fields related to auditory perception. My responsibilities involved co-direction of the organisation committee, accountings, and website.

Other services:

• Member of the P&P TCs of the ASA and the EAA (2023-).
• Working group Visioconferencing, CRNL (2020).
• Working group Human auditory research facilities, CRNL (2014-2016).
• Postdoc representative at the IT Steering Group, MRC CBSU (2012).
• Implementation and maintenance of the Acoustic Scale Wiki (http://www.acousticscale.org/), CNBH, Cambridge (2008).
• Student representative at the laboratory committee, UMR 5020, Lyon (2007).

Teaching and Supervision

PhD Student supervision:

• Floris Rotteveel, dual PhD University of Groningen / Université Lyon 1 (2022-2025).
• Moïra-Phoebé Huet, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (2016-2019).
• Nawal El Boghdady, University Medical Center Groningen (2014-2018).
• Jeanne Clarke, University Medical Center Groningen (2012-2016).
• Pranesh Bhargava, University Medical Center Groningen (2012-2016).

Other students:

• Yohan Villalon, Master 2, Santé, Université Lyon 1 (2024).
• Marieke ten Hoor, Biomedical Engineering Master student, University Medical Center Groningen (2023).
• Yohan Villalon, Master 1, Santé, Université Lyon 1 (2023).
• Floris Rooteveel, Biomedical Engineering Bachelor student, University Medical Center Groningen (2018).
• Martin Lenglet, Biomedical Engineering Master student, Phelma, INP, Grenoble (2018), co-supervised with Olivier Macherey, Gaston Hilkhuysen, LMA, Marseille.
• Victor Fletcher, Biomedical Engineering Bachelor student, University Medical Center Groningen (2017).
• Thirsa Huisman, Biomedical Engineering Master student, University Medical Center Groningen (2017).
• Sem Foreman, Life Science and Technology Bachelor student, Honours College Groningen (2016), co-supervised with Olivier Crouzet, University of Nantes.
• Michael Chesnay, Biomedical Engineering Master student, University Medical Center Groningen (2014).
• Lucas Stam, Biomedical Engineering Master student, University Medical Center Groningen (2013-2014).
• Su Li and Vin Shen Ban, Neuroscience undergraduate, Part II Research Project, University of Cambridge (2009).
• Alessandro Binetti, summer student, Centre for the Neural Basis of Hearing, Cambridge (2008).
• Guillaume Detta-Colli, Cognitive Science undergraduate, MSc Research Project, Université de Lyon (2007).

Teaching:

• Voice and speech perception in normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners, Master of Audiology, Université de Montpellier (2024).
• Speech signal processing in Matlab, Master of Acoustics, Université Lyon 1 (2015-2021).
• Speech Perception, M.Sc. of Behavioural, Cognitive Neurosciences, University of Groningen (2013-2019).
• Signal and Hearing, M.Sc. of Applied Cognitive Sciences, Université Lyon 2 (2005-2006).
• Acoustics and Continuum Mechanics, B.Sc. of Mechanics, Université Lyon 1 (2005-2006).
• Acoustics and Hearing, lectures for Sound Technicians, Grim-Edif, Lyon. (2005-2006).
• Signal Processing (Matlab), M.Sc. of Mechanics, Université Lyon 1 (2005).
• Communication Technologies, B.Sc. of Psychology, Université Lyon 2 (2004).